João Paraskeva is the Chair of the Department of Education Leadership and Program Director of the EdD PhD in Education Leadership and Policy Studies. He teaches courses in the Doctoral Program in Education Leadership and Policy Studies, Masters of Public Policy and Masters of Arts and Teaching. He was born in in Maputo, then People’s Republic of Mozambique, and concluded the middle and secondary education under the Marxist-Leninist state. He graduated in Humanities (Ancient Greek, Latin and Portuguese), Masters in Education, major in Curriculum Studies and a PhD in Education major in Curriculum Studies. A former middle school and high school teacher in the southern Africa region he was also a Professor at the University of Minho Portugal, Honorary Fellow of the University of Wisconsin Madison, Visiting Professor at the University of La Coruna, Spain, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil, University of Florence, Italy, and Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Research Interests

João Paraskeva’s research interests are profoundly interdisciplinary and focus on the relation between social policy, education, and curriculum within the dynamics of ideological production. Paraskeva has writen substantively around the relationship between economy, culture and power in education, southern theory, non-western epistemological frameworks trying to understand the impacts of neoliberal globalization forms in the public sphere. He is particularly interested in doing research regarding the tensions and challenges within and between critical and post-structural theories. While he is definitely not pioneered the exegesis of such intricate tensions, he has undertaken fairly original research in understanding such intricate epistemological clashes, as well as producing new theoretical paths that challenge the totalitarianism of both dominant and particular counter dominant western epistemological approaches thus bringing to the fore the importance non-western epistemological approaches to better understand the production and reproduction of the systems of reason that govern social policy and research related to education. Paraskeva shows an emerging interest in Southern Theory and its interplay with social policies. With over 40 books published and many peered reviewed articles, Paraskeva’s lastest work (i.e. Conflicts in Curriculum Theory. Challenge Hegemonic Epistemologies. New York: Palgrave) put foward a new theorectical path to examine social policy, in general and education and curriculum, in particular. He is currently working on a book Righting the Left. Hegemony, Power and Education.

Paraskeva, João Menelau (2009)The Construction of Violence/non Violene in Schools and the Media. In John Shostack and Jill Shostack. Researching Violence, Democracy and the Rights of People. London: Routledge,